The sounds of a flute echoed through the woods that surrounded the home of Joshua and Margaret. The source was easy to spot, for any curious forest-dwellers: a young human boy, sitting atop a large rock behind his family's home, squinting down at an open book on his lap as he attempted the scale once more. Finn wasn't half-bad at the flute, considering he'd only gotten it two weeks ago, but the occasional screech of a missed note was obnoxious enough that his parents sent him outside to practice.
The human boy groaned in frustration, looking closer at the page he had open, which showed diagrams of finger positions and short scores of sheet music. He looked back down at his hands - he was sure he had the right holes covered, but the note he was trying to play kept coming out wrong. Maybe his flute was just bunk.
He raised the flute to his mouth to try again, but before he could play anything, he noticed a shape on the horizon. All thoughts of music were forgotten as Finn watched a giant, yellow dog walking his way.
"Jake! Jaaaake!" Finn dropped the book on the rock behind him and made a beeline towards his brother, nearly falling on his face as he ran downhill. Jake was still a ways away, but he sped up his gait when he noticed the boy running towards him, and they ended up meeting right at the foot of the hill, with Finn crashing into his front paw.
"Whoa!" Jake shouted, alarmed, and he quickly shrunk down to his normal size, taking a large duffel bag out of a flesh-pocket as he did. "You alright, Finn?"
"Yeah, I'm cool." Finn had been knocked onto his butt, and he stood up, brushing dirt and grass off his pants. He gave Jake a big, cheeky grin.
Jake grinned back, looking up at his younger brother. "Y'know, I musta shrunk too much or somethin', 'cause I woulda sworn you weren't that tall last time I saw you."
"Growth spurt, boyeeee!" Finn tried to cartwheel towards his house, as if for emphasis, before realizing that cartwheeling uphill was a fair amount harder than cartwheeling on a flat surface, and promptly falling on his behind again. He sprung back up without missing a beat, and opted to run there normally instead, calling back at Jake to follow.
The atmosphere when they got home was… awkward, to say the least. It always was, when Jake visited. Margaret, while clearly trying to act supportive, would often make passive aggressive comments hinting that Jake should come back to live with them. Joshua, on the other hand, made no effort to hide that he thought his son's decision was needless and stupid, he also tried to keep the peace as much as possible, reminding Margaret that Jake's bad life choices were his to make whenever it seemed like an argument was about to break out. And Jermaine, well… Jermaine was as hard to read as ever.
"Took you long enough," he called from the kitchen when his brothers entered, in place of a greeting. "Help me cook dinner, will ya?"
"Lemme say hi to Mom and Dad first, sheesh," Jake yelled back.
"I'll help!" Finn offered.
"No you won't. Last week you ruined the saucepan trying to boil soda."
Finn grumbled, and Jake snorted at the image. Home sweet home. Soon enough, dinner was served: Spaghetti and meatballs, thankfully delicious due to Jake's intervention. (No offense to Jermaine, but man, the guy acted like he'd never heard of seasoning.) They talked as they ate, catching Jake up on any interesting happenings while he dodged questions about his own life. Finn was telling Jake about the old bird lady who gave him his new flute after he'd heroically saved her from some cats, when Jake stood up, cutting Finn off mid-sentence. "I just remembered something!"
He dashed to the hallway where he'd left his bag, and returned holding a long, thin parcel. "I got Finn something. Think of it as, like, an early birthday present."
Finn raised an eyebrow. "Dude, it's September, my birthday's not for another…" he paused and counted on his fingers, "six months!"
"A very early birthday present," Jake said, pushing back Finn's plate and setting the gift down in front of him. The boy quickly unwrapped the paper, and there was a collective gasp as the family saw what was inside.
"Holy creampuffs, Jake!" he squeaked as he lifted up his prize: a real sword, with a golden blade and black, leather-wrapped hilt.
"Where did you even get such a thing?" Margaret asked, looking both impressed and nervous.
Jake felt Jermaine's eyes on him as he replied, "I bought it from some goose dude at a market. Finn's always liked swords, and, well… it made me think of him." It wasn't a lie, despite Jermaine's clear suspicion - Lawful as Finn was, Jake knew he'd never forgive him if he found out something Jake gave him was stolen. And, well, if the money used to buy it happened to have been obtained in a slightly un-lawful manner, that was beside the point.
After dinner, Finn went back outside, sword in hand. Jake knew some sword technique, which he tried to demonstrate to Finn, who went through the motions for about a minute before insisting that was too boring and instead attempting some wild maneuver he'd seen in a ninja movie. This ended, predictably, with Finn falling yet again, this time directly on his face, and Margaret nearly had a heart attack when she saw her son with a bloody nose and missing tooth.
Despite that fiasco, it was a good visit. Jake stayed for three days before deciding he had to get back to the gang. (He might've stayed longer, but Tiffany's incessant texting was starting to drive him bonkers.)
The night before he was set to leave, his parents called him downstairs for a talk. He sat across from them at the dining table, holding his breath as he awaited whatever scolding was coming to him.
"Jake," Margaret began, "before you go, I wanted to apologize to you. I wasn't prepared for one of my chicks to leave the nest so soon, as it were, and I fear I've been too hard on you."
Joshua nodded. "Jake, you're a man, now, and being a man means having the freedom to make your own choices. I've made my thoughts on those choices clear times a'plenty, but I've also come to realize that what I think doesn't mean a damned thing."
"Son, you will make mistakes, and you'll learn from them" Margaret added, "I certainly have. What's important is that you keep moving forward, being the best dog you can be, and don't let me or anyone else hold you back." She smiled warmly, and Jake realized how much he'd missed that smile. "We'll always be here, supporting you, no matter what your life may bring."
Jake blinked, a mixture of relief and shock flooding him. He was sure he'd be chewed out for giving Finn a dangerous weapon, or they'd somehow discovered his secret life of crime, or something. He certainly wasn't expecting… this. He looked down at his paws, trying and failing to choke back tears.
"I… you're right," he said. "I probably have made a bad decisions, but it's a bad decision I'm gonna see through. I'm sorry for how much I worried you two." As he spoke, he stretched across the table to hug his parents, nestling his face into his mother's fur like he did as a puppy. "Mom, Dad, I love you."
"We love you too, Jake," they both said, and Jake felt as if a weight he didn't even realize was there had been lifted. The following day, after promising his next visit would come sooner, he left with a warm feeling in his heart, and a head full of confused, but ultimately happy thoughts.
Quiet as a mouse, Jake slunk against the wall, poking his eyes around the corner. The hallway was lined with security cameras, but there were no actual guards in sight - it seemed the Breakfast Kingdom thought manpower was obsolete. Their mistake.
The dog, his yellow fur covered by a black jumpsuit and balaclava, nodded at the similarly-dressed people behind him. "Coast is clear," he whispered, "Tiff, get to work on those cameras. Lettuce bros, stand watch."
The operation was going smoothly so far. No surprise there, as it was a relatively simple one: they'd received a tip-off that the Breakfast Kingdom was getting lax in their security, giving Jake and his crew the perfect opportunity to make off with a few cases of their delicious, pure, and very expensive maple syrup. While Gareth kept Breakfast Princess distracted, the others had snuck into the storehouse with little issue, and yet, as Jake waited for Tiffany to finish disabling the cameras, he couldn't help but feel that something was… off.
Is this… too easy? He found himself wondering, or am I just doubting myself? He found he was doing that a lot, lately. Ever since his last trip home; something his parents said stuck with him, and feelings he had been putting off for years now tended to flare up at the worst moments.
Jake sighed, and turned to one of the lettuce brothers, who was still standing nearby while his twin patrolled the other end of the hallway. "Hey, Romaine?"
"I'm Butter," the vegetable responded, smirking. They seemed to enjoy that nobody could tell them apart.
"Right, sorry. Anyway, do you ever…" Jake paused and looked over his shoulder, making sure Tiffany wasn't listening. The boy seemed focused on hooking up some wires to some kinda computery dingus, so Jake continued, "do you ever wonder why we do stuff like this?"
Butter's smirk dissipated, and Jake got the feeling he would've been raising an eyebrow if he had them. "You aren't getting soft on us, are ya' Jake?"
"Pshh, nah," Jake said, rolling his eyes, "It's just, y'know… we're all getting older, and sometimes I start to think that, hey, maybe there's more to life than this." His mother's voice echoed in his mind: Keep moving forward. Be the best dog you can be.
Butter tilted his head. "You mean, like, going after bigger hauls?"
"Something like that," Jake sighed, "nevermind, dude, its-"
Just then, Tiffany's shrill voice echoed from around the corner. "Uhh, Jake?! We've got a problem!" As soon as he finished talking, an alarm went off, and all the lights in the facility came on at once, temporarily blinding everyone in the room.
As soon as he could see again, Jake manifested an extra arm, and grabbed on to each of his comrades. They got the hint, and everyone started running for the exit. "What the stuff, Tiffany?!" he shouted as they ran.
"It wasn't my fault!" the kid shouted back, shielding his eyes with one arm as Jake kept his grip on the other, "Their security system is mad advanced - that globbin' mouse cheated us!"
Predictably, steel grates had slammed down over the exit as soon as the alarms went off, but Tiffany pulled a bomb out of his bag and made quick work of the wall beside it. As they raced through the city, Jake was vaguely aware of the sound of sirens in the distance, as well as the startled grunts of breakfast civilians that were pushed aside in the chaos. He wished he could simply grow himself huge, and get them all out of the city in a jiffy, but he knew from experience that obvious shapeshifting was a dead giveaway to his identity.
The gang didn't rest until the sound of sirens were well behind them, and the Breakfast kingdom only a speck in the distance. Spotting a large rock in among the desert sands, they all dropped unceremoniously onto the ground, gasping for breath.
"Gonna kill… that stinkin' lousy… fire mouse…" Tiffany wheezed, yanking off his balaclava. He was sweating heavily, despite the cold of the desert night.
"Where's Gareth at?" the lettuce brothers asked, after a moment.
"Probably… still… with the… princess…" Jake managed to get out, breathing the most heavily of any of them. Man, he was not in shape.
"He can find us," Tiffany said. The boy was now lying face-up on the sand, and Jake cringed inwardly, knowing they would have to deal with Tiffany complaining about all the sand in his hair later. "Jake, man, I'm so sorry," he continued, sounding like he was about to cry, "I shouldn't have trusted that guy! I'm supposed to be more prepared!"
Jake felt a pang of affection - Tiffany really did remind him of Finn, sometimes. "Hey, it's okay. It wasn't all your fault, and mistakes are part of how we grow, bro."
"It's not okay!" Tiffany sat up suddenly, and crawled close to Jake, pulling in until their faces were inches apart. "Jake, you're my reason for living. You and me, we exist as two sides of the same dirty, rusted coin, worthless without the other. For what good is a head without a tail? How can the gambler play his games when his coin always lands on its edge?"
And as quickly as it had come, the affection was gone. "Dude, you have got to stop talking like that," Jake said, gently pushing Tiffany away. The lettuce brothers with mild amusement, until something else caught their attention.
"Did somebody say Gareth?" the man in question asked dramatically as he stood atop the rock they were using for shelter.
"You missed your cue by a mile, dude," Jake said, snickering, and everyone laughed as they watched Gareth sheepishly climb down from the rock and join them. "This sucked. Let's go home."
When they returned to their hideout, Jake wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed and sleep forever. But that wasn't in the cards tonight.
He had decided to leave his phone behind, and as soon as the door was opened, he heard it ringing. It stopped before he could reach it, and turning it on, he saw that he had 17 missed calls from Jermaine, as well as a text that simply read 'Call back. NOW.' Worried, Jake stepped back outside for privacy, and pressed Redial.
Jermaine picked up on the first ring. "Jake… thank the Globs, you're there."
"Sorry, I was working…" Jake said, his worry growing. Jermaine was never that relieved to talk to him. "Dude, what's going on?"
The receiver crackled as he heard his brother take a deep breath.
"Jake, you need to come home. Mom and Dad are dead."